Chapter 32
Previous Chapter * Location: HaleLabs, Grove City * Sunday, April 28, 201X Marcus had fully recuperated. Silvia had the support of Han and Fenix. It was time. First, Han entered the front doors of HaleLabs. He touched his work badge on the reader next to the front doors. After they unlocked with a click, he tucked the badge back into his laptop bag. Han approached the receptionist, who pointed him to the director's office. Han walked through the first floor of the labs. Unlike the offices in HaleCorp with rows of cubicles, the desks in HaleLabs were arranged side-to-side, with less privacy. When Han approached Director King's office, he noticed it was already ajar. He knocked anyways, and a voice urged him in. He entered, and saw the director standing, gathering papers in his hands. "Hello," said Han, introducing himself. He held his hand out. "I'm here to pick up the files for my project?" "Ah yes!" exclaimed the director, taking Han's hand and shaking it. "My name is Arthur!" Arthur King adjusted his glasses and smiled. He was a man whose face was permanently creased with stress. He was wearing a pressed suit beneath his white lab coat. His hair was sharply brown; a toupee, Han suspected, because the director's sideburns had some grey. "How is everything going with David? He's not working you too hard now, is he?" "He's doing fine," said Han, politely smiling. "He's just stressed about our deadline." "Well, don't let me keep him waiting. Here are the documents that he needs." Arthur fished out a size able stack of papers from the messy pile on his desk. Han glanced around Arthur's office quickly, noting it was relatively devoid of personal items compared to the other desks outside. The only thing besides his papers was a fly buzzing around an open Chinese takeout box. "Here they are," said the director, passing the stack to Han. "I apologize, but I must be going now. I've got a deadline as well." Han nodded and let the director pass him, leaving him alone. Perfect. Han pressed a finger to his ear, activating his communication device. "Palm here. Let's go." --- Silvia has her finger to her ear as well. "On our way, ETA two minutes." Already Costume Changed, she was in an unmarked and unremarkable van with the others. Carter was driving. He had been going in circles around the building waiting for Han's signal. Marcus had turned back to look at Silvia from the front seat. It was pretty surreal, seeing a person become completely different. Even her scent was different. Marcus turned his gaze to Silvia's right, where Silvia's friend was sitting. He hadn't spoken much since the trip. Admittedly, Marcus had used his Malicesight on this stranger. Just in case. He didn't feel anything wrong. Silvia introduced him only as "Drone". He was wearing some kind of gauntlets and boots, but the rest of his outfit was rather nondescript, save for three tennis ball-sized metallic orbs on his belt. Drone was wearing a mask that concealed the entirety of his face, with only a tuft of his shocking blonde hair exposed on top. So I can't see him, but he can see me, thought Marcus. "Do you feel ready?" asked Carter. He steered the van around in an alley. Marcus clenched his right fist, testing his abilities. "Ready to get some answers," said Marcus. --- The sharp shrills of the fire alarm joined in the city's evening chorus. After pulling the alarm, Han joined with the small crowd of workers who were exiting through the front door. Most faces looked more annoyed than alarmed, being interrupted during their work, but their expressions turned to shock as the back corner of the building was clearly on fire. Han knew better, of course. At Silvia's signal, she conjured a small lick of flame in front of where Han stood, which slowly grew in intensity. Although it looked, felt, and even smelled real, Han knew it was just an illusion. Han shouldered his way to the side. Here he would stay and keep watch for any suspicious people, while the rest of the team made their way through the back of the labs. So far, everything was going to plan. --- "Team, I just picked up the firefighter's radio," came Carter's voice in Marcus's ear. He adjusted the device, not used to wearing it. "Their ETA is fifteen minutes. You have twenty." "That's plenty," came another voice. It was Drone. After Marcus, Silvia, and Drone strolled through the rear entrance, the three made their way to the first computer terminal they found. Drone had pulled a cable from his gauntlet and attached it to a port, then started typing away on his left gauntlet he held flat in front of him. Drone pressed a button on his gauntlet, and a small, blue projection appeared over it. It was a square screen of different folders; these, Marcus figured, were some of the folders from HaleLabs. "I've already finished downloading everything off the public drive. Now I'm just working on this encrypted one." Silvia looked relaxed, thumbing through some files in a cabinet nearby. Marcus felt a little superfluous, comparatively unproductive from his team. He snapped out of his thoughts when Silvia handed him a stack of folders. "It's really easy with Drone helping, huh?" said Silvia, beaming. "Yeah, he's great," agreed Marcus. He started going through the papers in silence, hoping to catch key words like "organization" or "MERLIN". Anything that might resemble a lead. "So," he turned to Drone, after a few minutes of silence. "How do you and Silvia know each other?" "Since we were in school," said Drone cheerily. "We've worked together on various missions too." "Ah, I see," said Marcus. He wasn't sure what else to say. "So Marcus, how long have you liked Silvia?" Marcus made a slight choking noise. "W-what?! N-no..." He turned and looked at her. Luckily she didn't seem to hear them. "Please. Then the slight pause in your step and hitch of breath when she's near is from a childhood injury then? Allergies perhaps?" Marcus couldn't see the smug face behind the mask, but he did want to punch it. "So that's why they call you 'Drone'?" --- "No..." Han turned and saw the director, Arthur King. He was staring at the "burning" building. Han then noticed he had a peculiar expression on his face. Fear? No... Fury? "I must grab my files!" he suddenly exclaimed. He made his way through the crowd. "Let me go!" he was yelling, struggling against the grips of people who were trying to hold him back. He eventually broke free and ran inside despite protests. People watched him swing open the doors, not daring to follow him into the smoke. Han discreetly pressed his finger to his ear. "Palm. There's a development." --- "Team, did you get that?" came Carter's voice through the earpiece. Marcus looked up from the files at Silvia and Drone. They both looked at each other. "Alright," said Carter. "Marcus and Silvia, go check it out. Drone stays here at the computer." "Got it," replied Silvia. Silvia and Marcus scanned every corner, hoping to stop whoever was crazy enough to enter a burning building. Suddenly, Marcus felt this overwhelming wave of hatred that was directed straight at him. He turned, and saw a man in a lab coat glaring murderously at him just in time before a set of heavy elevator doors closed. "Silvia, look!" said Marcus, pointing towards where the man just was. "Did you see him?!" "See who?" "It must've been the director. He went down that elevator!" Silvia wrinkled her nose in confusion. "There's no elevator on this side of the building." Marcus blinked. That's right. He remembered studying the floor plans. There isn't supposed to be an elevator there. Marcus ran over to the wall, ignoring the illusionary flames that licked his arms. Marcus pressed his hands on the wall. He could very faintly make out the vertical line between the two elevator doors. He would have never guessed it was a pair of doors had he not seen it just now. He pressed his earpiece. "Carter, is there an elevator on the west side of the building?" The earpiece crackled to life. "No, there's nothing supposed to be there," came Carter's response. "I finished downloading all of the files," Drone's voice joined in. "What's going on?" "The others found an elevator that weren't in the official floor plans," Carter replied. "We have the files now, and we still have time before the authorities get here. We should leave," said Silvia. "Yeah, you guys can't go!" came Palm's voice. "You have no idea where it leads! You have what you came for. Mission accomplished, right?" "But what if this is the lead that Blanco was telling us about? What if that man was a MERLIN agent?!" Marcus reasoned. He pounded his fist onto the door. "The answers to all our questions could be right here!" There was silence. No one knew what to say. Marcus had his fist on the wall, shaking slightly. He was so close. He just knew it! Finally, Carter broke the silence. "Marcus is right. We came here for real answers. I want you three to go down that elevator, and get as much as you can do. Whatever you do, if you're outnumbered or if it's a trap, do NOT engage. Palm, stay on the surface, warn us for anything." A smile spread on Marcus's face. Thank you, Carter! Drone had managed to find Marcus and Silvia. Together, the three worked together to forcibly slide open the doors. "This is an express elevator," said Drone, sounding awed. "It doesn't belong in a two-story building!" Marcus looked at Silvia, and they shared a nod. He turned to Drone, nodding as well. "Let's go." Next Chapter